Answer: Ideal lover
Radha is mentioned as the human soul who offers herself to God, and her devotion to the deity is pictured by Radha's self-abandonment to her beloved Krishna, as epitomized in Gita Govinda paintings.
By the sixteenth century, Vaishvanism in the cults of Rama and Krishna had become popular in many parts of western, northern and central India as part of the Bhakti movement that had swept the entire Indian subcontinent. Krishna had a special appeal. He was not only worshipped as God but also as an ideal lover. The notion of ‘love’ was cherished as a religious theme, where a delightful synthesis of sensuousness and mysticism was perceived. Krishna was perceived as the creator from whom all creation was a sportive emanation, and Radha, the human soul who led to offer herself to God. The soul’s devotion to the deity is pictured by Radha’s self-abandonment to her beloved Krishna epitomised in Gita Govinda paintings. |
